Throughout Friday’s gut-wrenching 90-89 loss to Washington at the Garden, Carmelo Anthony played as if he were depleted of energy. His passes had little thrust. His moves to the basket lacked aggression. He turned the ball over a season-high nine times and scored just 10 points on 5-for-14 shooting.

The night began with Carmelo Anthony posing for pictures with former Ranger great Brian Leetch, who gave up his spot on a Garden wall for Melo. Down went the picture of Leetch’s jersey retirement ceremony from Jan. 24, 2008, and up went a picture from Anthony’s record-setting, 62-point night against Charlotte.

Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich had 17 points apiece to lead seven players in double figures, and the Chicago Bulls, despite some occasional lapses in the fourth quarter, cruised to a 102-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

Michael Carter-Williams scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Henry Sims had a career-high 24 points and added nine rebounds and the Philadelphia 76ers celebrated their second victory in less than a week, beating the Boston Celtics 111-102 on Friday night.

Bradley Beal made the go-ahead jumper with 22 seconds left and scored 28 points, and the Washington Wizards took advantage of nine turnovers by Carmelo Anthony to edge the New York Knicks, 90-89 on Friday night.

Marc Gasol had 24 points, Mike Conley scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Memphis Grizzlies kept their playoff hopes alive with a 100-92 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.

Shaun Livingston scored 23 points, Mirza Teletovic made six 3-pointers and added 20, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Detroit Pistons 116-104 on Friday night to extend their home winning streak to 15 games.

16 comments on “Knicks Morning News (2014.04.05)”

It’s hard to beat up on Melo. He’s been great all season and carried this team on his back – to all 33 wins.
This from C. Herring; “I remember asking Melo whether he considered shooting less in that game last year. He said no, bc a shooter’s mentality is to keep shooting.”

Yeah, a shooter’s mentality is to keep shooting, while a winner’s mentality, especially when injured, is to get the ball in position for the team (teammate) to score. Different levels of leadership.
And then there’s Woody, who can make only one decision – give the ball to Melo. Another great leader.
What is PJ thinking?

I just watched the last play and laughed audibly. Botched handoff to our obviously hurt superstar who has been absolute garbage all night. 3 wizards immediately jump the oh so obvious play. Wide fucking open Ray Felton. Tim Hardaway Jr impersonating a statute. That play really had it all. We might not be the least effective late game team in NBA history, but we have to be the dumbest.

To mark what is probably the merciful end of a terrible season, here are some historical markers of this bizarre team that you won’t care about:

1. Only one player in NBA history has shot over 45% from 3 with an A/TO ratio over 4, with at least 200 assists. Pablo at age 36 is on pace to become the second. In Pablo’s two years with the Knicks, the team has been +4.7 when he was on the court and roughly breakeven when he was not.

2. Only one player in NBA history with at least 100 made 3s and 1000 points has shot above 37% from 3 and below 65% from the line. JR is about to become the second.

3. Zero players in NBA history have scored over 700 points while accumulating no more than 350 rebounds and no more than 30 assists. If Amar’e doesn’t get another assist this year, he will be the first.

Amar’e is one of my least favorite players of all time, yet I admit it is totally unfair. He has had some brutal injuries, and has admirably worked incredibly hard to make a pretty unlikely comeback to a player that is an almost uniquely exciting and effective one on one offensive scorer. He cares about winning and seems to be a good guy off the court. If the worst you can say about someone is that they don’t get along with encased fire extinguishers, that’s pretty good.

But I have found him incredibly hard to watch a a Knick fan. He is probably the single worst defensive player I’ve ever seen, and relative to his athleticism, he is the worst defender I’ve ever seen by a country mile. And he doesn’t appear to know it. I don’t think it’s his “fault,” in the sense that the term is even meaningful. He just has an ungodly slow read-and-react reflexes. I think this is real, if imprecise, thing. As real as vertical leap, but more important. And like vertical leap, it isn’t at all about intelligence. It is something different, and Amar’e has the read-and-react reflex to the same degree that Novak has lateral quickness.

For whatever reason, I have more trouble watching a terrible defender who (1) looks like he should be good defender (2) Always seems frustrated as if someone else at the poker table is the patsy, than one who fits and accepts their lot as human turnstiles like David Lee or Eddy Curry or Kiki Vandeweghe. Plus, Amar’e is just really bad, despite the occasional awesome defensive play. Since Amar’e has been a Knick, the team overall has been much worse when he’s on the floor than when he isn’t, and it’s now been a lot of minutes. And opponents are 5 pts per poss more efficient when is playing than when he isn’t, which is a really rare thing over a decent sample. Plus his passing has regressed to less than 1 asst / 36, which can be hard to watch. I don’t think a smart GM would pay him a lot to play basketball for them…

That is a great question RE Amare. I view Paul Milsap as a more valuable player than Amare and Milsap got 2 yr 19 million contract from Atlanta. Granted that contract was considered a steal for Atlanta the moment it was signed but I dont think Amare gets more than that. Im thinking 2/10 or 1/7.

Amar’e is having an amazing comeback in 2014. I thought he was done. He has refound his midrange jumper. His % from 10-16 is 51% after two straight years in the mid-20s. He also has developed a back to the basket arsenal. He has not been passing, but he has been converting at high efficiency.

Amar’e is a poor defender, but he has regained his strength – blocking shots from off-the-ball.

I think Amare would draw interest as a free agent, but only for a one year deal. His knees are still a time bomb.

No way that Amare is going to opt out. He could not get 23 million, even over four years (because of those knees).

Didnt JR get the ball with less than 3 seconds left (I thought it was 2.3 seconds)? I dont think he had enough time to pass to Amare and then Amare score. Plus you cant blame JR for just getting a shot off, any shot considering time remaining.

Amar’e seems like a cool guy and all, but he is a TERRIBLE value for a max contract player. Sure, he’s had a pretty decent season offensively– .589 TS%– but he averages 22 minutes per game because his knees are garbage and he plays horrendous defense at a premium defensive position. A part-time one-dimensional player is someone you should be able to sign for the mini-MLE, not somebody you pay $100M. I like Amar’e on a personal level, but his game doesn’t do much for me. I’ll be relieved when that contract is off the books.

So last night’s debacle means we’re gonna need a lot of help from the dregs of the NBA to pull out an upset victory or two over Atlanta. We’ve got 5 games left, 3-2 is probably best case, which means we finish 36-46. Atlanta has 7 games left , so they would have to go 2-5 for us to finish ahead of them. I would say @Indy, @Brooklyn and Miami are pretty sure losses (unless they are resting everybody due to playoff position) so of the remaining 4 – home: Detroit, Boston, Charlotte away: Milwaukee- they have to lose 2. The problem is Charlotte will very likely have nothing to play for, and then you have to count on 1 or 2 of the other lottery teams winning in Atlanta.

I still think 4-1 is possible, but yes, not particularly likely. Tomorrow’s game will likely tell the tale. If they can win that one, they still have a chance. Lowry and Amir Johnson are both hurt, after all.

In December, it looked like Amare could not stay on a roster at any price. Now, he could be a rotation player for many teams so long as his knees hold…

Unfortunately for NY, Amar’e would be perfect playing next to Anthony Davis. And we all know how that plays out: (In a “salary dump” NOLA sends NY their excess guards and instantly improve 10 wins with a “revitalized” Amar’e– it’s as formulaic as a Freddie Prinze Jr movie)